Owens, despite eating the loss actually looked good in this match. Wrestling Twitter is still mourning the loss of Daryl.

Jado & Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Kenny Omega

Yujiro pins Jado with Pimp Juice.

My Take:

Meh, this wasn’t much of a match. I’m glad it was short.

Gedo & Kazuchika Okada vs. Bushi & Sanada

Bushi pins Gedo with a Codebreaker from the top turnbuckle.

My Take:

Another “meh” match. At least the G1 matches are up next.

– G1 Climax Block A Matches –

Yoshi-Hashi vs. Zack Saber Jr.

Zack taps out Yoshi-Hashi when he transitions an octopus hold, into a foot on Yoshi-Hashi’s head and wrenches back both of his arms.

Match Highlights:

Zack kicks out of a powerbomb pin with flipping bridge at 2

Yoshi-Hashi kicks out of a penalty kick at 2

Zack kicks out of a lariat at 2

My Take:

Not much to write home about here. Zack dominated. Armbar city.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuji Nagata

Tanahashi wins with the High Fly Flow.

Match Highlights:

Tanahashi kicks out of an Exploder at 2

Tanahashi kicks out of a belly to belly superplex at 2

Tanahashi kicks out of a brainbuster at 2.

Tanahashi busts Nagata’s face open with repeated slaps

My Take:

The crowd was solidly behind Nagata. Tanahashi played the heel well, getting booed when he taunted the crowd with his air guitar, and repeatedly egging the crowd on to boo him. That was about all that was good with this match, kinda boring and forgettable other than Tana heeling it up to the crowd.

Bad Luck Fale vs. Tetsuya Naito

Fale pins Naito with the Bad Luck Fall.

Match Highlights:

Naito kicks out of a big splash at 2

Naito hits a Flatliner on Fale and immediately slaps on the Puma Blanca submission.

Naito kicks out of a lariat at 2

Naito kicks out of the Hand Grenade lifting lariat at 2

My Take:

This was a decent enough match, it just wasn’t very exciting. Fale winning was unexpected, but I like it, even if wrestling Twitter is still calling for his head for “killing” Daryl.

Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Kota Ibushi pins Ishii with a sit-out powerbomb pin.

Match Highlights:

Ibushi nails Ishii with a springboard missile dropkick that sends Ishii out of the ring. Ibushi follows up with a plancha,

Ishii kicks out of a standing moonsualt at 2

Ibushi and Ishii have an impromptu slap-boxing match.

Great sequence of no-sell after no-sell until Ishii finally downs Ibushi with a lariat!

Ibushi kicks out of a superplex at 2

Ishii kicks out of a German Suplex Pin at 2.5

Ibushi kicks out of a diving lariat at 2.5

Ishii kicks out of a Dragon Suplex Pin at 2.5

My Take:

I was surprised how well Ibushi was able to old his own in a battle of kicks and strikes with Ishii. Hard fought match by both men. Good luck to the alleged main-event that follows trying to live up to hard hitting excitement featured in this match.

Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto

Makabe pins Goto with a spider suplex into the King Kong Knee Drop.

Match Highlights:

Goto kicks out of a Northern Lights Suplex Pin at 2

Makabe kicks out of an Ushigoroshi at 2

Goto kicks out of a German Suplex Pin at 2

Goto kicks out of a lariat at 2.5

Goto kicks out of a kneeling powerbomb pin at 2.5

My Take:

This was every bit the pinnacle of mediocrity I expected it to be. Not horrible, but not great, this match was just kind of there. Certainly not worthy of main-event status.

Overall Take:

Going into today’s action I thought the G1 matches looked pretty sub-par, and for the most part I was right. I was expecting more from Yoshi-Hashi vs. Zack Saber Jr., but their styles are just too different and the match wasn’t all that interesting or entertaining. I was hopeful Ishii vs. Ibushi would be great. I never thought in a million years Ibushi would score a victory over Ishii, but he did, and in convincing fashion. All in all a really off night for Block A. Skip every match except Ishii vs. Ibushi.